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: Not every woman has such a difficult time. I am sorry you did. That said, every breastfeeding relationship is different. It doesn't have to be that way next time. Start setting up your support system now and educate yourself as much as possible.

I'm sorry I can't give you any valuable knowledge but I wanted to tell you that you shouldn't feel guilty bc you couldn't bfeed. You tried harder than anyone I've ever heard of. Anyone in this society would have given up right away. I'm one of the snobs that gets mad at women who don't bfeed but I get mad at the women who could but chose not to. There is no guilt in not bfing if there were circumstances that didn't allow it. If anything you should feel proud of yourself for trying the hardest you ever have in your life for your daughter. No one can take that away from you.

I've heard about problems with babies having irregular palates though, although I can't remember if they were able to be breastfed. I'll try to do some research later on today though. Until then I hope someone comes along with a similar situation that can give you info.

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First time mommy of Robert Nicolas, now 9 whole months(), and loving it!

Thank you for all the wonderful replies. I especially enjoyed the response where the lady gave her version of a breastfeeding horror story, someone who doesn't even try. I guess I never thought about it like that, though. And while I do understand the viewpoint of not respecting a choice to not breastfeed (I have a hard time with people who don't even consider it), please let my story remind you that when you see someone in public giving their baby a bottle, you don't really know why. My experience has taught me that you really never know people's reasons for their choices (or know if they had a choice), and it's easy to look at them and assume they were just too lazy to bf. Not always the case. Next time, I'll give it my all once again, and with any luck, it will go much better. I'd love to, instead of being a mommy who gets looks that say "Don't you know breast is best?" to get looks in a few years that say "Why are you still bf'ing a 2 1/2 year old?" Because I know what a blessing it is!! I know I'll struggle one way or the other because I'm a nurse and have no choice financially but to work. As one can imagine, even if things go swimmingly, pumping as a cardiac nurse, finding regular breaks, etc., will be a challenge to say the least. But I only have to work 24 hours a week, and because my husband and I work opposite days, we never have to leave dd with a baby-sitter (only occasionally with family). So I'll do the best I can, but even if I could bf for 3 months until I'll have to go back to work, that would be a blessing I didn't get the first time. And maybe I can find a way to make it much longer. I really would love to still be at it when next baby is 2. And my experiences from my previous post also gave me the confidence to not care whether anyone likes it or not. You can bet if I get it to work next time, I'm not hiding ANYTHING. I'm bf'ing wherever, whenever we want. Maybe we'll even go to some nurse-ins. lol